Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- This morning the Holy Father summoned “Ecclesiastical cultural institutions” to “welcome, study, apply and develop the consequences” of the teaching agenda he set forth in his encyclicals concerning the relationship between faith and reason (‘Fides et Ratio’) good and evil (‘Veritatis splendor’), faith and culture (‘Redemptoris missio’), civil and moral law (‘Evangelium vitae’), the Eastern and Western world (‘Slavorum apostoli’) and the North and South (‘Centesimus annus’).

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a valuable instrument for the transmission of the faith eagerly anticipated by bishops around the world is nearing completion, says the Vatican.

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- According to a revealing study by Italian researchers Luca Diotavelli and Roberto Cipriani, the majority of the Catholic “intelligentsia” in Italy distrusts the market and believes the state should be the principal provider of social well-being.

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- Papal biographer George Weigel said the real issue for United States bishops regarding Sen. John Kerry is not whether he should receive Holy Communion – a matter for his local bishop – but how he is deliberately misrepresenting the teachings of the Church on abortion and life issues.

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has created a task force to decide whether Catholic politicians, who advocate positions “in direct contradiction” to Church teaching, should receive Communion.

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- As activists prepared for a pro-choice march April 25, which organizers called the March for Women’s Lives, federal courtrooms coast-to-coast heard graphic testimony, with little media coverage, about exactly what happens during partial-birth abortions, said Cathy Cleaver Ruse.

Apr 27, 2004 - 12:00 am .- During a deaconate ordination ceremony in the Cathedral of Valencia, Archbishop Jorge Urosa of the same diocese underscored the need for Catholics to renew their efforts to help those most in need of “material and supernatural goods.”